VP 7.01 Is there a fault with the Template/Merge Project Option?

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Just tested this option and found a possible problem. Up until recently it was not possible to merge a saved .vpj project with the open project being edited. The Templates tab seems to offer a solution. However I don't think it is working correctly......The option does not merge. It certainly loads and adds the constituent files but instead of adding it to the current project it overwrites it!

Let's say you have already saved a .vpj file (e.g. a few images) of a previous project ...TEST.vpj and now you have re-opened VP and started editing a New project. Let's say its a series of clips with some images and transitions and perhaps some text. i.e. It's an open project on the timeline that you may have spent some time on. You now decide you would like to merge this current work with the TEST.vpj file...

So.....

Click the Templates tab...This opens the VP Templates folder, none of which are what you want. So close that window and......

Click the Templates Tab down arrow. This now prompts Merge open Project with VideoPad project.

Click this prompt (which opens the Templates folder containing .vpj files) so navigate to TEST.vpj to wherever you have saved it.

Open TEST.vpj .

TEST.vpj overwrites your open project so all your editing is lost!

(The same happens if you "merge" any of the actual templates available.)

I think what is meant to happen is that the merged .vpj file should have been created either at the start of the timeline---at the cursor position or at the end of the timeline following your current work. It shouldn't overwrite it.

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The merged result should appear in a new sequence, leaving the current sequence untouched. If it's not doing that, then there's a bug.

Merge isn't used to merge together two arbitrary projects, the project we are merging with must have Placeholder Clips in it (e.g. like Frozen or Baby in the templates list). What will happen is that the clips on video track 1 in your current project will be automatically substituted where the placeholders were. You can make your own template projects with placeholders in them, and use automatic merge to create many similar projects en masse. This works well for repetitive videos like if you have a YouTube channel where all your videos have the same intro and outro. See Project Templates in help documentation for more info on automatic merge.

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If a template sequence contains placeholder clips (accessed in Home Tab -> Add Objects -> Add Placeholder Clip), then you can use the automatic merge feature to quickly substitute the placeholders with your own clips.

Place your desired clips on Video Track 1 and/or Audio Track 1.

Access the dropdown on the Templates button on the Home tab's tool bar.

Press Merge Open Project with VideoPad Project... which will bring up the file explorer.

Select any project which has placeholder clips in it.

The selected project will be merged into the current project and the merged result will appear on a new sequence. Placeholder video clips in the template project will be replaced by your clips on Video Track 1, and placeholder audio clips will be replaced by any unlinked audio clips on Audio Track 1. Only placeholders on Video Track 1/Audio Track 1 will be substituted.

Any effects, transitions or fades that were applied to the clips in the template will be preserved in the resulting merged sequence. If an overlay in the template ends exactly where a video placeholder ends, then in the merged result the corresponding overlay will have been stretched or shortened, if possible, to match the length of the substitute clip.

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I agree that the current setup does work , provided that the template has enough placeholders to accommodate the number of clips on the timeline. However any grouped clips on the timeline are split (even if they total the length of the placeholder and excess clips are pushed in (it seems) anywhere.

Here's the result in merging single Placeholder .vpj file with a timeline containing two image clips (Not grouped in this case.....)

The first image is placed in the holder but second is split and inserted some way further on.

This is the Placeholder .vpj file used for this example.....

There is only a single Placeholder here. (they are thumbnails) But the "merge result above shows that something is wrong since I would have expected just the first image to have been inserted seeing that there was no place for the the second.

But my main observation was that If the vpj file to be merged has no placeholders then it deletes the timeline and all you get is that .vpj file. As I mentioned there ought to be a proper Merge Project that will place the the merging file in a particular position in the open timeline.